§ Mr. McAllionTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is Her Majesty's Government's policy in respect of NHS trusts in Scotland putting parts of the Scottish ambulance service out to competitive tender [26026]
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonGuidance was issued from the NHS management executive in December 1993 on the arrangements for contracting for ambulance services; this included provision for hospitals to invite competitive tenders for non-emergency patient transport services from providers other than the Scottish Ambulance Service NHS trust.
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§ Mr. McAllionTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what steps he will take to ensure that ambulance services in Scotland are provided only by staff trained to the same standard as that of the Scottish ambulance service. [26029]
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonThis has been made explicit in the guidance which was issued in December 1993. I have arranged for copies of the guidance to be placed in the Library of the House.